From the moment, I sat down in front of an MS-DOS Leading Edge computer thirty years ago and thought, it has to be better than this, and then sat down in front of an Apple //c, I have been an Apple enthusiast.

I go back before the iPad, the iPhone, the iMac, and even the original Macintosh. I was an a Apple enthusiast when the Apple ][ was the best you could get.

I have always appreciated Apple’s sense of aesthetic and design and their commitment to perfection. If you are an Apple fan, then Iconic is a book for you. If you do not want to lay down the considerable cash for the book, then check out the website behind the book www.shrineofapple.com.

Iconic is a gorgeous coffee table book filled with nearly every product Apple has ever sold. Leafing through the pages was like a walk down a memory lane of my life over the last thirty years.

It has been Apple’s relentless desire “to get it right” that has always attracted me. Apple products emphasize ease of use, the feel of the device in your hands, and even packaging. They pay very specific attention to every detail of the user experience. They seek perfection.

Over the years I have bought a lot of wonderful Apple products, but I had forgotten about a few of their very uninspiring ones. The book reminded me that Apple has not always been perfect, even if they have sought perfection as a goal. Do you remember the “Maps” fiasco of last year?

Apple makes great products but even they sometimes fail in a major way.

I am not perfect, but I try to be. I am sure that anyone who knows me and works with me would easily give a list of my shortcomings and imperfections.

Even still, I am striving for perfection.

My wife and I have been married for thirty-two years. Our marriage is the product of years and years of working at kindness, patience, love, and, yes, perfection. We still believe we will get it right and do it better.

We have been parents for almost twenty-six years and if you ask our children, they will surely say we are far from perfect. We believe we can be better, so we keep trying to be perfect.

I have been a follower of Jesus Christ for forty years. I am a better and more faithful follower in some ways than I was ten or twenty years ago, but I have a long way to go. I am far from perfect, but I try to be.

If there were a “shrineofdarrell” website somewhere–God forbid!–I would hope there would be pictures of really good moments when I got everything just right and perfect. There would be other pictures, though, that would make me, or anyone, cringe.

It is a good thing to try to be perfect. While we are all a little broken inside, we can all work to be whole. We can all work to be better.

My wish for all of us would be we work toward perfection and do not worry too much about the times we fail. Let’s just keep working on it and make a great life together along the way.

ABOUT DARRELL

People amaze me. Life inspires me. Culture intrigues me. I love to write and explore ideas.

I am trying to create a place where we can explore people, life, and culture together.